Ayla Adkins/The Broadside

Central Oregon Community College has its fair share of clubs, sports, and programs. One of those programs is the Central Oregon Psychology Enthusiasts, also known as COPE.

COPE’s focus is “providing students with experience-based learning opportunities outside the classroom environment,” said Andria Woodell, a faculty mentor to COPE with a Ph.D. in Psychology.

Woodell said that the program listens to what the students are interested in and then goes from there, adjusting to their involvement. They have “socials, book clubs, special topics lectures, movie nights, hosted student showcases” and even conversing with a few researchers within the field.

When discussing the benefits of joining COPE, Woodell said that many undergraduates “who want to transfer into psychology are not aware of the variety of areas they can specialize in or the different ways psychology can be combined with other majors.” Woodell also said that although COCC has many benefits within its standard class structure, students still need to join clubs and programs to gain more experience and start networking.

Woodell loves COPE because she gets to connect with her students more and help them along their path. She said that seeing her “students mature in their skill set is incredible—seeing extremely introverted students develop strong social networks or becoming confident presenters is rewarding.” She also loves hearing back from the alumni and listening to their success stories.

The wonderful thing about COPE is that any student can join. “The beauty of psychology is that it interconnects with multiple fields,” said Woodell. She has seen students from various majors like “art, math, criminal justice, business, nursing, biology, and more join COPE over the years.” COPE is also an informal program, so if you are a bit too busy with classes or work one term, you can always come back when you have more time to connect.

The first COPE meeting is Oct. 26 in a Zoom meeting from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Students interested should contact Andrea Woodell ([email protected]) to get on the COPE mailing list and hear about other upcoming meetings.